Noe Valley certainly has their share of this liquid gold and we were recently blessed with a warm, freshly decanted jar of it! From right up the Castro Street hill, the raw honey was still settling by the time it reached us at 24th street.

The population of these lovely little honey producers have hit an astonishing low just a few years back. Healthy bees were fleeing their hives leaving crops un-pollinated and then posing huge risks to the crops we love most! Without the bees hard at work, food from apples to nuts, avocados, broccoli, onions, pumpkin, and peaches and more are affected. I can’t bear the idea of this world without blueberries or kiwi.

According to the National Resources Defense Council’s website, this mass disappearance of bees from their hives is referred to as Colony Collapse Disorder. The numbers are huge, some estimated “one-third of all honey bee colonies in the country have vanished”.

It seems that the bees know what a nice neighborhood is when they see one. Most of the bees were directed to nearby apiaries when their swarms were detected in undesired places. In Noe Valley, there are a few options for local honey. And very tasty! The bees pick nectar from fruit trees and other blooming flowers leaving each batch with a distinct underlying taste of melded lavender, cherries, and more. I was very impressed as a licked the honey from my freshly dipped spoon. Another delicious way to eat and be a part of our community!

Check out Noe Valley honey at Video Wave, 24th Street Cheese Co, Lovejoy’s Tea Room, Of Barbers & Bears, and Mission Pie for your own delicious jar. And we have a great small Le Creuset honey dipper to pair with it for a great local gift!

And for those who may be into their own urban beekeeping, have you made a visit to Her Majesty's?

Information drawn from Noe Valley Apiaries and the Natural Resources Defense Council

Bee in Hive courtesy botheredbybees

If you can wrest your Tovolo Rocket Pops away from the kids, Gourmet Magazine’s July issue and Fine Cooking’s August/September issue both offer some tasty sounding cocktail ice pops. (Or leave out the booze, and share with the kids)

From Fine Cooking

Bellini Pops

Bittersweet Chocolate-Bourbon Pops

Lemon-Vodka Cream Pops

From Gourmet

Bloody Mary Ice Pops

Watermelon Margarita Ice Pops

Peaches and Cream Yogurt Pops

Mint Caipirinha Ice Pops

Piña Colada Ice Pops

(Photo by Scott Phillips from Finecooking.com)

Yesterday I saw FOOD, INC., a film that begins to uncover the truth about the nation’s food and agriculture industry. I am going to highly suggest that you all see it as well.  It’s only playing at two cinemas in San Francisco, down at the Embarcadero cinema and at The Bridge on Geary. I shouldn’t complain because two theatres are more than most cities right now. And lucky for me, I only have a two minute walk which doesn’t usually happen very often over in the Richmond area. Check out show times for this fantastically captivating and eye opening documentary featuring many leading advocates including our hometown spokesperson, Michael Pollan.

FOOD, INC doesn’t leave you, the concerned movie-going-meat-eater, wanting to give up eating meat for life, but it does encourage you to take a political stance on the food in your shopping cart or reusable bag. Much is said and seen in the 1 hour and 90 minute film directed by Robert Kenner. Kenner claims not to be so much of a foodie as a filmmaker, but advocates for conscious decisions about the businesses we choose to support.

I read an interview published  by Jane Black of The Washington Post's Food section with Robert Kenner and would like to share his response that resonated the most with me and for our community:

 

What action do you want people to take?

One thing is that people say to me, "I'll never eat chicken again." And that's not what I intended. What I intend is that there's a [food] system that's bad. Your tomatoes are as bad as your chicken. The whole system is industrialized. You don't need to tell them the dark side of every item. And you don't have to stop eating foods you love. You can eat chicken, but try not to eat industrial food.

Many vegetarians make a stand by omitting meat from their diets because of the generally awful conditions animals undergo to become food on our plates. But I will go as far to say that many of these same vegetarians opt to purchase, cook, and nosh on vegetables that have undergone their fair share of poor treatment. Together we need to make choices that will create a demand for the fair treatment of workers, animals, and the consumers as well. Demand will make waves for change.

Hungry for Change is the movie’s official website and I urge you to check it out as well as more information on issues which can also be found there. Key topics range from genetic engineering, cloning, environmental impact, and farm worker protection, to food borne illness, factory, farming, healthy eating nutritional labeling on restaurant foods, and pesticides.

Another do-good option is to support local farms. We have a direct connection with three right now in the form of Community Support Agriculture programs, Frog Hollow, Eating with the Seasons, and Terra Firma. Weekly, they have drivers come up from the farms with boxes of their goods- this week members are picking up delicious peaches, apricots, and PLUMS from Frog Hollow. Tomorrow we’ll see what we get from the others two drop offs! You can join us too, check out our website link above.

The Chronicle reports that City Arts & Lectures has released their Fall Cultural Series events list which includes a fun food-related event. They’ll be showing the premier of the PBS documentary "The Botany of Desire," followed by a conversation with Michael Pollan and the filmmaker Michael Schwartz. The documentary will also air this fall on PBS. (Watch the trailer)

The event is September 16th at the Herbst Theater, and tickets will supposedly be available from City Box Office, though the event isn’t listed yet.

Looking for a fun Father’s Day gift?

 

There are quite a few options in the store from a clever magnetic light that sticks to a metal BBQ spatula or onion goggles that will help the cooking dad from letting the tears be mistaken for his softer side.

Another fun choice is a great summer read. We have the perfect light and humorous book for young and old dads who love food. Especially those dads who want to share their love for enchiladas and duck dishes with their own little runts. In his recently published book Hungry Monkey, Matthew Amster-Burton gives “rights” to dads (and moms) all over to extend whatever is on the dinner table to everyone, whether they are in the high chair at the end of the table or not. Matthew actually stopped in to store a few weeks ago when he was in the area because he spotted his book on our blog. Thanks for reading!

Hungry Monkey; A Food-Loving Father’s Quest To Raise An Adventurous Eater is outstanding as well as Cooks Boulevard’s first book club book (it just keeps getting better and better, doesn’t it).

Come and talk about what made you laugh the most on Wednesday, July 8th at 7pm, right in the store.

Happy Father’s Day on Sunday!

Wow, was that fun! Did you know that Crimson Lady peaches stay crunchy even when ripe? (apparently this makes them quite popular with kids). We learned all sorts of fun stuff from Danny from Frog Hollow Farm who visited the shop this past Thursday.

Danny brought some boxes to show off what you get when you sign up for their Happy Child CSA. The standard box is 10 pounds, and costs $38. (Do the math – that’s $3.80 per pound for fresh, local, organic fruit – delivered!) You can also choose a 5 pound box, or if you’ve got a lot of fruit eaters, a 20 pound box. They’ll deliver your box every week, or every other week – it’s your choice.

We all got to taste the contents of this week’s box: Crimson Lady peaches, Orange Red apricots (yes, we learned, that’s the actual name of that variety), Rainer cherries, and Bing cherries. Needless to say, they were all amazing. We have Farmer Al’s leadership to thank for that – he runs the show at the Farm, with the able help of his family and crew. (Frog Hollow built housing on the Farm to be able to offer an affordable place for their year-round crew to live).

And speaking of family, Farmer Al’s wife Becky is the creator of the Farm’s pastries, conserves, chutneys, and marmalades. Danny brought some of these goodies for us too. The Apricot-Cherry galette disappeared in a flash, and the Black Forest Ham and Gruyere turnovers were a hit as well. Becky’s creations can be delivered with your box – each week with your box you’ll get a list of items that you can add on. Just let Frog Hollow know by the Friday before your delivery and they’ll show up with your box.

 

But that’s not all! Sara was thrilled to discover that you can also add on granola! (She’s a big granola fan, if you haven’t guessed). There’s also olive oil made from the Farm’s olives, and sun-dried peaches, nectarines, and apricots. And if you need more fruit in your box any week you can add that on as well. Intrigued? Read more about the Happy Child CSA from Frog Hollow Farm. Sign up by Friday and you can pick up your box the next Wednesday. Yum!

Many of you have not had a chance to enjoy a wonderful cooking class offered by Cooks Boulevard, so we thought you may enjoy a “taste” of what goes on. Most of the recipes and even pictures can be found on the class website, but are you curious as to what goes down in 150 minutes of group kitchen time?

All About Curry

A few weeks ago, the kitchen was bustling with chilies and spices as three various curries were drummed up by Chef Anne and her entourage of participants. The classes are all hands-on, so after short demonstrations, Chef Anne leaves all of the chopping, zesting, blending, and stirring up to those students in the class. She taught about preparing the “mise en place” or “putting in place” all the necessary ingredients so one can run through a recipe with ease! This was crucial since the menu consisted of Thai tofu red curry with bamboo shoots, Northern Indian chicken and cashew nut sauce, Burmese green prawn curry, and my favorite dish which is a Thai green papaya salad!

She also emphasized using recipes simply as guides and not steadfast rules, switching up meats and tofu, greens, and herbs according to what is fresh and in the kitchen. That way you can have a solid foundation but not the exact same dish every time. If you would like to check out the recipes or see more pictures from the evening, check out All About Curry on our website.

Date Night in Greece

Chef Anne brought us up close and personal with authentic cuisine again during Date Night in Greece. She was able to share some many helpful techniques from her own experiences abroad. With such an ambitious menu, including lamb roasted with oregano and thyme with tzatziki sauce, dolmas with avgolemono sauce, and baklava, everyone had a task.

Students Dean and Bradley did an exceptional job preparing the lamb with Chef Anne’s pointers about making short deep cuts in the meat to stuff pieces of raw garlic and then rubbing it down with herbs and additional seasoning. Potato halves were placed in a large pan to form a roasting rack for the meat, a practical and delicious method for both the potatoes and lamb. Kathy and Susan tackled the syrup and steps required for the baklava. With layers of butter, walnuts, and many many pieces of phyllo, the end result was tasty with hints of cardamom and rose water.

The final dish was dolmas or stuffed grape leaves. The rice was prepared with currants and toasted pine nuts and the grape leaves with blanched to remove the briny liquid that they were packed in. When all the elements were prepared the class rolled the dolmas tight and set them to cook in a grape leaf lined stockpot. In the pot, the dolmas were set in a circle formation until the bottom was covered in little stuffed treasures. Chef Anne showed the class how to set grape leaves between layers and then to place a plate on top of all of the layers to keep the steam in. Martha had never seen or heard of this being done, but in the end the dolmas were perfectly cooked.

In the end, everyone enjoyed the food.  The Tzatziki sauce paired perfectly with the lamb, and the dolmas were citrusy, fresh and light. The baklava was very good; you could taste the rose water in the sauce and a hint of cardamom. Unfortunately the baklava cooked a little too quickly on the bottom with one of the batches. Anne cited the convection oven as a factor that she had not taken into account with the baklava, which can be touchy. So keep all this in mind, and happy cooking and baking!

Check out the recipes and pictures from past classes as well as our upcoming class list right here at the Cooking Classes at Cooks Boulevard. You can see how many seats are available and even register for classes.

Our new cooking classes schedule is now posted and registration is open. Take a look and see what strikes your fancy.

You have nine classes to choose from during July and August, including a whopping seven new classes:

• Flour and Water: Simple Breads for the Home Baker (special 4-1/2 hour class)
• Fourth of July Gourmet Picnic
• Healthy Weeknight Suppers
• Summer Date Night
• Fun and Easy Food for a Crowd
• Gluten-Free Meals Your Kids Will Eat
• Satisfying Summer Salads
• Cake and Cupcake Decorating
• Pizza Workshop

And don't forget – you can always propose your own class on our website if you don't see a class you like. Both the bread class and the cake and cupcake decorating class are on the schedule because someone like you proposed we offer them.

Read the tasty details of all the classes...

Photo credits:
Beet Salad courtesy stu_spivack
Pizza courtesy sanbeiji
Chicken Wings courtesy woordenaar
Asparagus courtesy kevygee
Bread dough courtesy scottfeldstein
Blueberry crisp courtesy citymama

Soon after we announced our partnership with Frog Hollow Farm to offer the shop as a pick-up location for their Happy Child CSA, we were excited to learn that we’d be partnering with a second CSA, Eating With the Seasons. It happened so quickly that we haven’t even had a chance to promote it until now! Our first delivery was today, and they’ll deliver to us every Thursday.

Eating With the Seasons is run by Becky Herbert, who combines fruits and veggies from her family farm (including their best-selling strawberries) with vegetables, eggs, coffee, tea, granola, meat, and olive oil from other local farmers and food purveyors that share her passion for local, good, organic food.

One fun feature of Eating With the Seasons is that each week you can choose the exact contents of your bag, selecting from their list of fruits and veggies. You can also, if you choose, add to your bag any of the other items they offer like olive oil or granola.

Read more about Eating With the Seasons and let us know if you have any questions.

Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto and The Omnivore's Dilemma will be speaking here in San Francisco (near Union Square) on Tuesday, June 16th from 6pm-7pm as part of the World Affairs Council’s lecture series:

“Michael Pollan believes that “real food”—the kind of food your great-grandmother would recognize as food—is being undermined across the globe by science on one side and the food industry on the other. As the modern Western or “American” diet has been linked to an epidemic of chronic diseases, from obesity and type 2 diabetes, what can governments and their citizens do to put the focus back on the health of the soil, plants, and animals that make up the food chain? Pollan joins the Council to explore what the industrialization of food and agriculture has meant for the world’s health and happiness, how it has shaped cultures, and looks at the growing movement to renovate the food system.”

Tickets are $15 ($5 for students) and are available from the World Affairs Council.